


Matchmeddling

by Advocaat



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Nothing resolves romantic tension like getting locked in a freezer together, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Advocaat/pseuds/Advocaat
Summary: Iroh and Kanna tire of watching their nephew and granddaughter faff about like lovelorn idiots and conspire to get them together. By shutting them in a freezer.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 305





	Matchmeddling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LarirenShadow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarirenShadow/gifts).



> This story was a gift I wrote for Lariren-Shadow on FFNet back in 2013. The prompt she gave me was "Matchmaking Parents". Me being me, I took that prompt and ran with it. ;)

"Katara!" Zuko yelped, waving his hands in front of him in the universal signal for 'stop'.

The waterbender only grinned and continued to advance.

Zuko began to shake his head from side to side and his expression grew more panicked. "Katara, wait!"

She ignored his protests and her grin widened as she picked up speed.

"Katara! Katara! Katara!" he chanted as he gave up on appealing to her and turned tail to flee, stumbling in the snow.

Katara pulled her arm back in preparation and then flung it forward, pegging the fleeing firebender in the back of the head with a large snowball. The force of the impact caused the teenager to pitch forward and fall face first into the snow.

"That'll teach you to mess with a seasoned snowball fight champ on her home turf!" she gloated, standing over him with her arms crossed. And then, just for good measure, she placed a foot on his back and ground him further into the fluffy powder, ignoring his squawks of disapproval.

A short ways away, Kanna and Iroh sat drinking tea, watching the pair with amusement.

"That's love," Kanna observed, taking a sip from her cup.

"Yes, that most definitely is love," Iroh agreed as he poured himself another cup.

"Ah, to be young again," Kanna lamented, sighing wistfully.

Iroh nodded in agreement and looked out over the snow at his nephew who had freed himself from under the lovely young waterbender's foot and was now wearing a grumpy expression as he patted himself down. His effort was rendered pointless when said waterbender snuck up behind him with an armful of snow and dumped it over his head before running away with a squeal.

The old former general closed his eyes and shook his head with a smile. "My nephew is a fine young man but a terrible teenager. He just has no grasp of fun. When I was his age..." he trailed of meaningfully.

Kanna chuckled. "Youth _is_ wasted on the young."

Iroh nodded again. "One of life's injustices," he agreed, sipping his tea. "Ah, but Prince—ahem, Fire Lord Zuko has come a remarkably long way since he met your grandchildren."

A corner of Kanna's lips lifted in a half smirk. "I can't speak much for whatever influence Sokka's had on him, but Katara appears to have straightened him out a touch. Your nephew seems quite a different person from the last time we met."

"Indeed."

Kanna hummed in and went to pour some more tea but found that the chilly polar air had cooled the pot.

"Allow me," Iroh offered, taking the pot from her and reheating it in his palms. As he filled her cup, he said, "You know, it is never too early to begin planning for the future. As the Fire Lord's uncle and a member of the royal family, I have to think about the happiness of my nephew and the direction of my nation. I think both could benefit from a little Water Tribe influence."

Kanna closed her eyes and sipped her freshly reheated tea. "This tribe doesn't subscribe to arranged marriages, General."

Iroh's eyes twinkled. "Of course not. I would never dare to presume that you follow the Northern tradition here in the South. But if my nephew and your granddaughter were to come together on their own… perhaps with the help of a small amount of good-natured meddling from a well-meaning third party...?"

Kanna opened her eyes and smirked. "Matchmaking, hm? Now there's a practice I _wholeheartedly_ endorse."

* * *

oO0Oo

* * *

Katara walked through the halls of her tribe's brand-new lodge, ticking off food items in her head. Her grandmother had asked her to fetch some things from the freezer room for that night's dinner; a crate of seal sausages, two arctic hens, and a vat of raw sea prunes. Zuko walked beside her—he'd been commandeered by Kanna to help her carry the food. It always amused Katara how submissive Zuko was to her grandmother, but she supposed he still felt guilty about how he'd treated her upon their initial meeting.

She wasn't actually sure how her grandmother felt about Zuko. She didn't think she held a grudge against him for grabbing her back then, but the old woman could be hard to read. Zuko did everything he could to be helpful around the tribe in order to make up for the scare he'd given them, and it caused little flutters in Katara's heart to see him so devoted to making things right with her tribe. And, to his—and her—delight, his efforts were paying off. The tribe no longer regarded him with fear or anxiety—for the most part—and the children loved him. They thought it was cool how he could bend the bonfires into animal shapes and melt snow with his feet.

They reached the freezer and Katara grunted as she pulled the heavy metal door, a gift from the steel smiths of the Fire Nation, open. Immediately, a blast of cold air hit her and she shivered. "Let's hurry up and get this over with. I'd rather not stay in there any longer than I have to."

Zuko nodded and followed her in, leaving the door open behind him to let in light, as there were no windows or torches inside. "What do you want me to get?" he asked, his breath puffing out as a white cloud in front of him.

"You get the sausages and hens," she instructed, tossing a look at him over her shoulder. "I'll get the sea prunes."

Zuko nodded and moved to the other side of the freezer where the meat was stored. Katara walked over to the shelf containing vats of sea prunes and rubbed her hands together, wishing she had her parka and mittens. Quickly, she removed two vats from the shelf and turned back to Zuko. "I got the prunes, she called to him. "Are you about done?"

She saw Zuko hoist a crate over his shoulder with one hand and grab the tethers of two plucked birds with the other. "Yeah," he called back. He turned and began to walk back to her.

Katara nodded and waited for him, imagining how delicious dinner would be that night with Gran-Gran running the kitchen. She could almost taste the five-flavor soup.

Just as Zuko reached her, she heard a _whoosh_ and a _thunk_ , and the freezer was plunged into darkness. Someone had apparently closed the door on them. "Oh, come on," she groused, setting down the vats and feeling her way toward the door. She heard clunking behind her and then the room was illuminated by firelight from Zuko's palm. "Thanks," she tossed back at him, appreciative of his quick thinking.

Finding the door handle, she grabbed onto it firmly and tugged. The door didn't budge. Confused, she pulled harder, but the door remained firmly shut.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, coming up behind her.

"It's locked," she announced, annoyed at whomever had stupidly closed the door without bothering to check if anyone was inside. "Just great."

Zuko frowned. "Try knocking. Maybe the person who shut it will hear us," he suggested.

Katara lifted her fist and began pounding on the door. "Hey!" she called loudly. "Is anybody out there? Let us out!"

She waited, but there was no response.

"They left!" she exclaimed, outraged. "I can't believe it! Who locks a door without checking to see if anybody's inside?" She kicked the door in frustration.

Zuko set down his burden and came up beside her. He raised his own fist and slammed it against the door several times, but the result was the same.

Katara grabbed her arms and shivered, dancing from foot to foot. "Of all the rotten—what are we supposed to do now?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait," Zuko answered, exhaling a resigned sounding sigh. "Your grandmother knows we came here. She's bound to wonder why we're taking so long and send someone to come look for us, right?"

Katara sighed and slumped down by the wall, defeated. "Easy for you to say," she said, rubbing at her arms furiously. "I'll probably freeze to death before anybody finds us."

"How's this?" Zuko asked, increasing the size of the fire in his palm and sitting beside her.

The heat was certainly very welcome, but there was a glaring flaw in Zuko's plan. "I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think having a fire in here is a very good idea," she warned. "It's going eat up the oxygen in this room faster than it can be replaced."

Zuko looked put out. "I didn't think of that," he admitted, letting the flames die. With the absence of his fire, the room was once again plunged into darkness and the cold returned, more intense than before. Katara clutched her sides and instantly regretted speaking up, deciding that suffocating had to at least be better than freezing to death. Glaring at the door, she called, "Somebody come rescue us soon, or I swear to La that when I die in here, I will haunt you all!" She felt Zuko shudder beside her and turned her head towards him, even though she couldn't see him in the dark. "What?" she demanded.

"I'm just imagining you as a ghost."

Katara scowled and smacked him on the shoulder.

They sat in silence for several minutes, both listening eagerly for any sounds of life from outside, but the outside remained as quiet as the inside and Katara was at her limit. "Gah!" she cried, stamping her feet against the floor to get the blood moving in her veins. "I can't take this anymore! I'm about to freeze into an ice pop!"

Zuko shifted beside her. "Um..." he spoke up, sounding hesitant. "If you want, you can, um, share my body heat." His voice was timid, as though he thought she might throttle him for suggesting such a thing.

Katara might just throttle him for not suggesting it sooner. Quickly, she crawled in front of him and grabbed his knees, yanking them apart and then turning around and scooting back to settle herself neatly against his front, ignoring his yelp of surprise at the sudden invasion of his personal space. She leaned her back against his chest and pulled his arms around her, cocooning herself in his firebender warmth. The amount of heat he radiated actually surprised her. No wonder he'd lasted so long at the North Pole.

"Please, make yourself at home," Zuko said flatly.

Katara turned her head and rested her cheek against his warm throat. "You firebenders are wasted in the Fire Nation," she informed him. "If you can keep yourselves warm like this, you should be living here."

Zuko's chin brushed the top of her head lightly as he looked for a place to put his head without being in her space, but then he gave up and just rested it on hers. "Our bending is stronger in hot places," he said, grabbing her hands in his own to warm them. "If anything, you waterbenders should live with us. That ability of yours to freeze water would come in very handy in all that heat."

A little flutter went through Katara's heart at his words, but she played it off by teasingly asking, "Are you inviting me to come live with you?"

Zuko surprised her by playing along. "Would you agree to keep me cool in the summer?"

She pretended to think it over. "Maybe if you treated me like a princess and gave me all kinds of fabulous gowns to wear and let me boss you around whenever I want."

"I'm pretty sure at least one of those things would just be business as usual."

Katara smiled and snuggled deeper into Zuko's chest. For a moment she allowed herself to imagine that their conversation was more than just a joking exchange. What would it be like to live in the Fire Palace with Zuko? To spend every day by his side? Zuko had become one of her dearest friends and she was already ruing the day when he would have to leave the South Pole and go back to his people. She didn't want him to go. The thought of it made her heart heavy.

Zuko broke her out of her thoughts when he said, "Seriously, where is everyone? Shouldn't someone have come looking by now?"

"You'd think," she agreed. "I wonder who will find us first; a search party or Sokka's stomach?"

"I'd be fine with either."

The two of them lapsed into silence as they continued to wait. Surely, someone would come for them soon.

oO0Oo

* * *

Kanna's attention was drawn from her and Iroh's pai sho game when the timekeeping candle—a gift from the mechanist—beside them made a series of popping noises.

"That's twenty minutes," she remarked, turning back to her opponent. "You're certain that Katara is okay in there?"

Iroh smiled reassuringly. "My nephew is very adept at controlling his inner fire. He won't let Miss Katara freeze."

Kanna nodded, choosing to trust her opponent's judgement. She was sure that if anything were to go terribly wrong, they would hear it. Aside from the initial protests after the door had been closed on them, Katara and the young Fire Lord hadn't made a peep. "I admit, your idea was a clever one," she praised, removing her eyes from the door.

Iroh closed his eyes and sat back in his chair. "I've been around the block a few times," was his reply, and he opened his eyes to wink at her.

Kanna chuckled. "Well, let's just hope this plan of yours bears fruit."

"Or grand nieces and nephews," Iroh said with a sly look.

"A few great grandchildren would be nice," she agreed, "However, I'd prefer that they wait until marriage for that. Or betrothal, at the very least."

"Mm, well, with any luck, the wait for that won't be a long one."

The two returned their attention to the game board and continued to play. They would just have to wait and see what happened.

oO0Oo

* * *

"Wanna play a game?" Katara asked, breaking the silence. The two had been sitting quietly for what felt like ages and she was going to die of boredom if they continued like that any longer.

"What kind of game?" Zuko asked. "There's not a whole lot we can play without a board or pieces."

"The game I'm thinking of doesn't require any of that. It's a game I used to play with the other women before you and Aang showed up and threw all our lives into chaos," she joked.

Zuko twitched guiltily. "Sorry."

Katara smiled affectionately. "I'm just teasing," she said, patting his hand. "Anyway, the game is called 'Never-have-I-ever'. It's really simple. We both hold up five fingers and then we take turns stating things we've never done. For example, I might say something like 'Never have I ever ridden an ostrich-horse'. Then, if you've done the thing I said, you have to put down a finger. The loser is the person who runs out of fingers first."

"Okay," Zuko agreed after a moment. "But there's one problem. How are we going to see each other put our fingers down in the dark?"

Katara frowned. He made a good point. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She grabbed his left hand in her right and matched up their palms. "There. Now we can feel it when the other person puts a finger down."

Zuko pressed his palm lightly back against hers and said, "Okay, then. You start."

Katara thought for a moment. The list of things she had never done had shrunk dramatically since the last time she'd played this game, back when she was still a sheltered village girl. "I've never used a sword," she said at last.

Zuko folded his index finger over the back of her hand, his warm pad heating the skin there.

"I've never bent water," he stated.

Katara huffed and folded her own index finger down. "I've never worn armor," she retaliated, smirking though he couldn't see her.

Zuko lowered his thumb and wrapped it around the knuckle of her index finger. "I've never met the Earth King."

Katara folded her thumb around his. "I've never kissed a girl," she declared with a grin.

Zuko grumbled about unfair statements and lowered his middle finger. "I've never kissed a bender," he retaliated.

Katara's middle finger went down as well. Now they were both down to only two fingers. "I've never liked someone from my own nation."

Zuko hesitated briefly before folding his ring finger down. "I've never liked an Air Nomad."

Katara's ring finger followed suit. As short as her and Aang's relationship had been, it still counted.

All that was left now were her and Zuko's pinkies, the rest of their fingers threaded together as comfortably as if they'd been holding hands for years. The lack of awkwardness in the contact surprised her. In its place was a feeling of excitement that prickled up from the points where his skin touched hers.

"I've never liked a person as much as I do right now." The words escaped her almost without bidding, although their trueness couldn't be denied.

Zuko's finger stayed where it was. "You like someone?" he asked.

"You do too?" she responded.

Zuko's last finger continued to remain upright, and she took that as his answer. "Have you told them yet?" she inquired, both curious and apprehensive.

She felt Zuko's chin brush her hair as he shook his head. "No." Then he asked, "Have you?"

"...No," she replied.

"Is it someone I know?" he prodded.

Katara smiled at that. "Yeah, I'd say you know him pretty well."

"I see."

They were silent for a few moments until Katara broke it by saying, "It's your turn."

Zuko stayed silent for another moment before he said, "I've never eaten sea prunes."

Katara rolled her eyes as she lowered her last finger. "That's it? You're supposed to finish with something more shocking."

Zuko raised his voice and enthusiastically exclaimed, "Shock! I've never eaten sea prunes."

She rewarded his cheek with an elbow to the stomach. "Well, that was fun," she stated blandly. "How long do you think we've been in here?"

She felt Zuko shrug. "Thirty, maybe forty minutes?"

Katara sighed. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Where in the South Pole is everyone? If you weren't in here with me, I'd be an icicle by now!"

"It is pretty weird that nobody's come looking yet," he agreed. "If nothing else, shouldn't your grandmother be wondering where her food is?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do until somebody finds us," she said resignedly. "I just can't believe this happened. Two master benders trapped in a wimpy freezer. Everyone's gonna laugh at us when they find out."

"I could try to break down the door," Zuko offered.

Katara shook her head. "I'd rather not destroy this place when it was _just_ built. Let's wait a little longer before resorting to that." Now that she was warm and comfortably snuggled up against Zuko, being trapped in the freezer wasn't seeming quite so terrible.

"I can't keep bending like this forever, you know," Zuko warned. "I'm going to wear out eventually,"

"Well, then, let's take your mind off it. How about another game?" she suggested.

"Another one?" he echoed.

"Yeah. I'm thinking maybe Truth or Dare. You know that one, right?

When Zuko replied, his tone was wary. "...Yes."

Katara smiled. "Great. So, truth or dare?"

Zuko hesitated for a long moment before finally answering, "Truth."

Katara quickly squashed the urge to ask, _'who do you like?'_ and instead asked, "How's being Fire Lord?"

"Hard," he answered. "Not a day goes by that I don't get bombarded by people who are upset about something."

Katara nodded in understanding. "I guess that's just part of ruling a nation. People are always going to come to you with their problems."

She heard Zuko huff. "It wouldn't be so bad if those problems were all serious issue that needed to be brought to my attention, but just the other day I was forced to sort out a couple of farmers arguing over ownership of a pig-chicken."

Katara was taken aback. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. And the day before that there was an incident with a really angry merchant, not even a Fire Nation citizen, who burst into the palace and started wailing about the 'unsolicited destruction of his merchandise' in the marketplace."

"Well, that could be counted as something serious," Katara reasoned. "What exactly was his merchandise?"

"Cabbages," Zuko said flatly.

"...Oh."

"Truth or dare?" he asked, continuing the game.

Katara thought for a minute and then said, "Dare."

Zuko made a hmming noise. "I dare you to..." he seemed to think for a moment and then said, "kiss one of the arctic hens."

Katara wrinkled her nose. "Eww, really?"

When Zuko answered his voice was full of amusement. "You picked dare. Don't tell me I've won already?"

Katara's eyebrow twitched. "Fine. Give me some light."

Zuko lit a small fire in his palm and Katara scooted out of his embrace and stood, her fingers detangling from his in the process. The moment she was up, she felt the iciness of the room attack her from every angle. Pointedly ignoring Zuko's smirk, she hurried over to where he had dropped the hens and picked one up. She grimaced at it and then brought it to her lips, giving its cold, stiff wing a light peck. The deed done, she quickly dropped the bird and fled back to Zuko's warmth, automatically taking his hand and entwining their fingers again. "Yuck," she said with a shudder. "I'm going to get you back for that. Truth or dare?"

Zuko let his fire die and answered, "Truth."

Katara scowled. "Coward," she grumbled. Unable to contain her curiosity this time, she asked, "Who do you like?"

She felt Zuko stiffen behind her, but then he relaxed and answered nonchalantly, "A girl I met during the war." He was silent for a moment and then he added, "I was… kind of a jerk to her at first."

"That could be anyone, then," she teased, masking the way her heart felt like it dropped out of her chest at his answer. She'd been hoping for a name. His vagueness put her on edge.

To her disappointment, instead of elaborating, he asked, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she replied, not wanting to kiss any more dead animals.

"Would you ever consider marrying a firebender?"

Katara's heart sped up in her chest. Marry a firebender? Why would he ask that particular question? Did he maybe mean something by it? Or was he just generally curious because the Fire Nation had been her enemy her whole life? Carefully, she answered, "I might. If he was someone I liked and trusted." She tried to be as nonchalant as him, but she worried her heartbeat would give her away. "Truth or dare?"

This time, Zuko surprised her by answering, "Dare."

Katara wracked her brain, trying to think of a good dare. It was hard when all that surrounded them was icy coldness and frozen food. She really didn't want to make Zuko do anything that would cause him to get up and leave her to the cold, but she was low on options. Thinking back to their previous game, she had an idea. "I dare you to do one of the things you said you've never done." If she were lucky, she'd get to see him eat a frozen sea prune. That would teach him.

Zuko didn't make a move to get up. "Anything?" he asked. His voice sounded lower than normal.

Katara shrugged. "Anything you mentioned before."

Zuko's free hand found her jaw. "You won't get mad at me?"

She frowned. "No. Why wou—" Her response was stopped when he gently turned her head and bent his neck to press his cheek against her own. The contact was warm but brief, just a quick nuzzle before he moved and she felt the soft press of his lips on hers.

Heat flooded Katara's cheeks, and for a drawn out moment she wondered why he was kissing her, but as she reviewed his statements from the previous game in her head, she understood. A part of her wondered if he was kissing her only to fulfill the dare, but the hopeful part of her wanted to believe that there was more to it than that.

Zuko kissed her lightly, sweetly. She'd always imagined—and imagine she had—that a kiss from Zuko would be fiery and passionate, but she thought this type of kiss suited him just as well. It was bashful and earnest and so very Zuko. Taking a chance, she turned more towards him and pressed back, exhaling a sigh through her nose. Zuko responded by tightening his hold on her hand and crossing his ankles to bring her in closer, fully entrapping her in his embrace.

After another moment he pulled back and she was able to breathe again. There was a drawn out pause in which she attempted to wrap her mind around the meaning behind Zuko's actions, but it was broken when he asked, "Truth or dare?"

Glad for the darkness hiding her flushed face, Katara took another chance and found his neck with her free hand. She wrapped her arm around it and snuggled closer, hoping for a positive response. To her relief and delight, Zuko's arm circled her middle and pulled her in tight. "Dare," she answered, curious what he would do now.

Zuko buried his nose into her hair and said, "I dare you to come live with me in the Fire Nation."

Surprised, Katara quickly picked her head up and looked at him, noticing suddenly that he'd lit another fire and she could now see his eyes watching her steadily in the dim light. "Come live— You're serious?" she asked, not quite believing what he was asking her.

He nodded, his gaze sure and intense. "Please come back with me."

Katara's head swam. Come back with him to the Fire Nation? Her grip on his neck tightened. Was he... could he be asking for a relationship? "Why?" was what she finally asked.

Even in the poor light, she could see the blush creep over Zuko's cheeks. He fidgeted and his expression turned somewhat shy. "Because I like you," he confessed, looking away as if the admission was embarrassing for him. "I've liked you for a really long time."

Katara's heart did a flip in her chest. He liked her! He _liked_ her! "You have?" she asked, wanting to hear more. "For how long?"

Zuko peeked back at her out of the corner of his eye. "A _really_ long time."

"Like, before I broke up with Aang?" she pressed.

Zuko's blush darkened. "Before you even got together with Aang," he admitted.

Her eyes widened. "So, like, during the war?" she asked, shocked. "Even back then?"

He looked away again and nodded.

Katara removed her arm from around his neck and put her hand on his head. She then proceeded to shake it roughly. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded as she shook him. "You could've saved me _so much_ emotional stress!"

"What?" Zuko asked, sounding taken aback.

She stopped shaking his head and instead pulled it close to hers and kissed him soundly. Pulling back, she said, "I like you too."

A large smile spread across Zuko's face. "You do?"

Katara smiled as well. The happiness in Zuko's expression made her heart soar. "Yes, I do."

"So, when you said before that you liked someone, it was..."

"You," she finished. "I really like you, Zuko."

Zuko's hand found the back of her head and he pulled her in for another kiss. Katara wound her arm back around his neck and turned her body so that she was facing him completely.

Zuko was only the third boy Katara had ever kissed. She found that kissing him was entirely different than kissing Aang or Jet. Jet's kiss had been full of pomp and confidence. He'd kissed her like he knew what his roguish wiles did to girls. Aang's kisses had been more sincere, but they'd also been selfish kisses. Aang kissed her because that's what _he_ wanted. He was still a bit too young to fully consider her feelings, which was the reason their relationship had failed. Zuko's kisses were full of longing and adoration. He was a man driven by determination and passion, but his kisses were thoughtful and sweet and patient. They were the kisses of someone with a sincere heart who was too used to losing the things that were precious to him.

Well, he wouldn't worry about that with her. She broke the kiss and declared, "I'll go back with you."

Zuko's eyes, which had been half-lidded from their kiss, shot open. "You will?"

She smiled and nodded. "The tribe will be fine without me. With my dad and Gran-Pakku leading the reconstruction and Gran-Gran keeping everyone else in line, I feel like I can leave without any worries. And I think that my healing will be more useful in the Fire Nation anyway. You still have a lot of injured, and this tribe has plenty of healers now that our sister tribe has begun sending waterbenders."

Zuko smiled wider than she'd ever seen him and pulled her in tight for a hug. "I promise you won't regret this decision!" he assured her excitedly. "I'll make sure you have everything you could ever want and give you the best apartments in the palace and–"

Katara pulled back and covered his mouth with her hand. "Slow down, Zuko. You don't have to give me the world," she told him with a grin. "I'll be happy just seeing you every day."

Zuko removed her hand and kissed her again, unthreading their fingers so that he could use both arms to pull her flush against him.

As Katara kissed him back, her heart felt lighter than it had since her mother was alive. And maybe she was getting a little ahead of herself, but she wondered if someday she'd be telling her grandchildren that she got together with her husband in a freezer.

oO0Oo

* * *

Kanna sat back in her chair as Iroh played the last move in their game. The man was a master, that was an unarguable truth. She looked over at the candle and her old eyelids lifted slightly. "It's been nearly an hour," she observed. "I think it's time we checked on them."

Iroh nodded. "Yes, I think they've had quite enough time to sort out their…tension."

The two of them rose from their chairs and crossed the room to the freezer door. Kanna flipped the lock and Iroh pulled open the heavy slab of metal.

Light spilled into the enclosed space and Kanna's eyebrows rose to her hairline.

"Oho!" Iroh said, taking in the sight before him with a broad grin. "I'd say our work here is done."


End file.
